“He… he’s gone…”
Sini felt hollow. There were words in her mind, in the back of her throat, but they weren’t coming out.
“He is gone, yes… Sini, sister, I missed you.”
“I missed you too, Epani… You… you kept the place nice while I was gone…”
“Well, I tried… I had some help though…”
“Your little darlings. And… my little experiment. Who has grown up into a little angel.”
Epani sighed. Just like Sini, she was struggling for words.
“They are all good kids. They are my kids. My little godly children. But… they… they can be our kids… if you want… I…” Epani stuttered, then straightened herself out. “I am sorry that you were exiled, Sini. I would… I would like to invite you back in. Mostly as a Time Drake. But also… we… we could work on things together.”
“You are still scared of Epanophovon’s contract too, right?” Sini asked.
“I am, yes.”
“Well, that bastard is dead, he won’t hurt you!” Elkay-En butted in. “If anything, as a former slave of Epanophovon, I will make sure of it.”
Epani turned back to Elkay-En. “So… Kinisis really did just make you to hand you off to the Corruption, to satiate it? And you are not Corrupted yourself?”
“I… I was Corruption. I uncorrupted myself, because I refused to be a slave to Epanophovon. Kinisis could have done the same, but she chose to be a Corruption. I believe that any of her… child deities, including Arkay and… I mean, Kairos did choose to forcibly free himself from Kinisis’s influence, before he, uh, was killed…”
Sini also started eyeing Elkay-En. “What… what do you mean?”
“Kairos removed Kinisis’s influence from himself and, instead of admitting he made a mistake, Kairos decided he was going to kill everyone and destroy the universe’s Forward Flow.”
Sini blinked. “R-really?”
“Yes.”
“So… question… Is he… still alive in any way? Or is he truly dead? Because I can… I can definitely sense other Time Drake-like entities in there. It’s not just the stupid Synaisthyn that refuses to have kids.”
Epani went back to frowning. “I taught my Twelve Anew some time-based powers, and Kairos was also teaching Dalosisaar, the group leader, some time-based stuff before he went rogue.”
“There is another source.”
“Well…” Elkay-En grunted. “We were assisted by… I suppose, another Elkay. There was a Rethan present, the parent of Litvir and a friend of… let’s call him Shadow Elkay. They were the one who dealt the blow that severed Kairos’s mind and allowed the rest of us to finish Kairos off.”
Sini also joined in on the frowning. “That is genuinely a bad thing… You’re going to have to get the little fucker checked for Corruption and… I’m going to have to look them over. Because… we may have accidentally made a new Time Drake.”
“I… I don’t follow…” Epani muttered. “Are you saying that killing a Time Drake… makes a new Time Drake?”
“Basically, yes. Time Drakes are eternal beings. When one ceases to exist, when they reach their final, infinite moment, a new Time Drake is immediately created to take its place.”
“So, just… as a hypothetical… if Epani or I were to kill you right now, Sini, one of us would become a true Time Drake?”
“That or a new Time Drake would spontaneously come into existence…” Sini trailed off again, then sighed, loudly. “Still can’t believe that fucker is dead. We spent two fucking universes together. I… I thought he cared… Even if he was… showing signs of wanting to give up and leave for a long, long time…”
“That is what hurts most…” Epani growled. “I could have made arrangements for him to leave peacefully. He chose violence. And, for some reason, he also chose Kinisis over us. Somehow, we managed to survive. But I am… not looking forward to the future.”
Elkay-En seemed less bothered. “You should look forward to it. Because now you get to build a better future alongside someone who also genuinely cares about your universe. Sini, you clearly never wanted to leave, and now you have a chance to come back and finish your work. And Epani, you can have the companionship you craved, which Kairos was too aloof and demanding to give you.”
“I guess…” Sini was still frowning. “But what about my work out here?”
“Eh, I suppose I can look after your oasis and your Divine Guardians for you. Not like I have anything important I should be doing!” Elkay-En smiled. “And I can also keep an eye out for any threats. Despite being stunted from being a slave to Corruption, I have… a lot of skills and a large network I can rely on. And I’ll make sure that your universe is safe from the outside.”
“You are being oddly optimistic, brother…” Sini tutted.
“Oh, I am, definitely, since I’m… pretty traumatised by a long list of things. But right now, someone needs to be optimistic, and also, Sini, you secretly wanted to come back to this universe, and now you can.”
“That is very true…” Sini eventually relented. “Alright. Fine. I’ll be a Time Drake. But I would like to do a little Life Goddess stuff. Is that alright with you, Epani?”
“It is, Sini. As long as you do not build any meat fortresses.”
“Oh, I’m over that now. I’ve worked out how to treat my Dispa, mostly. But you are going to have to work something out with me replacing Kairos. The universe will not respond well to knowing that Kairos is dead and I’m back and alive.”
“We will work something out. It is more important right now that we get time fixed, check the universe for any residual corruption, then get all the exo-universal beings out of my universe.”
“That’s absolutely fine!” Elkay-En nodded in agreement. “I’ll deal with the other Elkays, don’t worry. But I would like to speak to your little god of shadows before we go. And I’m sure there’ll be messages to be passed around. Either way, we’ll get it all sorted.”
“Well, alright… let’s get to work, sister!” Sini smiled, properly this time. “We’ll do things properly this time…”
“We will, Sini, we definitely will…”